Let's turn tonight to Acts chapter 7.
In the early church, when a dispute arose
among the Grecians, that is those Jews of
the Grecian culture, they were actually Jews, but
they had followed the Grecian culture, which was
a universal culture as the result of Alexander
the Great's conquest of the world.
He left little pockets of Greek culture in
the major areas.
And in Jerusalem, there were many who were
no longer kosher, no longer following the Hebrew
culture, but had adopted the Grecian culture, though
they were still Jews.
They felt that their widows were being slighted
when the church was doling out its welfare
program.
And so they complained to the apostles who
said, let us appoint seven men that are
of good report, full of the Holy Spirit
and wisdom, to take care of this ministry
of administering the church's welfare in order that
we might give ourselves continually to fasting and
prayer.
And so Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,
was chosen as one of the seven, as
also was Philip.
Now, these men were chosen for the task
of waiting tables.
However, the Holy Spirit had other plans for
them, but I do believe that their faithfulness
in those little things is what qualified them
for the greater ministry that God had.
We really don't start at the top in
our ministry for the Lord.
You have to start off with the little
things.
You have to start off with the plain,
simple task.
And as Jesus said, thou hast been faithful
in a few things, now I will make
you ruler over many.
And I think that this is the process
that the Lord does follow.
Our faithfulness in the little things.
So often a person comes and says, I
want to get in the ministry.
And I say, go to the Sunday school
department and volunteer.
That's the best place to start in the
ministry.
If you can learn to relate God's truth
to children, then you can relate it to
anybody.
But it's important that we get started in,
you know, the Sunday school or in some
small task in order that we might develop
our own abilities as well as test and
see if this is what God has actually
called us to.
So many times when people say, I want
to go into the ministry, they expect me
to dismiss Romaine and put them in his
place on the staff.
And there have been those that have requested
that we do that, but I'm convinced that
every church needs a Romaine.
So Stephen was one of those that was
chosen, full of wisdom, full of the Holy
Spirit, of good report.
But Stephen soon got into trouble, not with
the church, but because the Lord was working
mightily through his life with great wonders.
That is the works of God that would
cause people to wonder at them and miracles
that he was doing.
And so there were those of the synagogue
of the Libertines who called him and challenged
him.
And they were not able to really deal
with the spirit of wisdom and all by
which he spoke.
So they hired some men to bear false
witness against Stephen.
And as Stephen was standing there in the
council to face these charges, they all saw
his face as though it were the face
of an angel, that shining, beautiful glow of
the spirit upon Stephen.
And so that brings us to chapter seven.
As we note chapter seven, really is just
picking up a continuation of six.
And you can't start just straight off in
seven.
You've got to have the background from six
to understand the beginning.
Then said the high priest, are these things?
So you see, you've got to have chapter
six where they accuse Stephen of blaspheming God,
of saying that the temple was going to
be destroyed and of blaspheming Moses, speaking against
Moses, the temple.
And these are the false charges that were
made partially true.
And of course, a partial lie is probably
one of the hardest things to fight.
Partial truth, partial lie is extremely difficult to
combat.
An outright lie is no problem, but partial
truth, partial lie is difficult to combat.
And this is what he was facing.
He no doubt had declared that Jesus was
going to establish a new order and that
God was not met just in the temple,
but God is now dealing with men everywhere
in their hearts and lives.
So the priest said, are these things so?
And he said, men and brethren and fathers,
hearken.
So now begins Stephen's defense before the council,
which is going to lead to his death.
He is going to so anger them that
they are going to pick up stones, gnash
their teeth against him and stone him.
It is interesting that in his defense, he
is first of all, the accused.
They have made these accusations against him.
But before he is finished with his defense,
he becomes the accuser and he accuses them.
And his accusations of them was something they
couldn't handle.
It was more than they can handle.
And they took up stones and killed him.
So he starts his defense in recounting their
history.
And as he recounts their history, going back
to their father, Abraham, whom they all acknowledged
as the father of their nation, how that
God had called him out of the land
of his father's to come to a land
that God would ultimately give unto him and
to his seed for a possession, how that
he journeyed to Heron until his father died
and then came on to the land that
God had given to him.
However, though God had promised him the entire
land, he did not personally gain any inheritance
in the land except that when his wife
died, he bought a cave to bury her
in.
And that was the only part of the
land that Abraham ever possessed, the burial cave
that he had purchased from the people of
the land.
But then God had told Abraham that his
seed was to go into a strange land
where they would dwell for four hundred years,
at which time God would deliver them from
that land.
And at that time he would give to
them the land that he had promised unto
them and that God would then judge the
nation that had made them serve in such
terrible bondage.
So he gave to Abraham the covenant, verse
eight of circumcision.
And so Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him
the eighth day.
And Isaac begat Jacob and the twelve patriarchs
and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
And the patriarchs moved with envy, sold Joseph
into Egypt, but God was with him.
Now, the Jews not only lived in the
present, they also lived in the past.
Their history is extremely important to them.
They have great reverence for the dead.
And there is a feeling among the Jews
that if you want to be near God,
then you should be near the body of
His saints.
So they have a common practice of going
to the graves of the patriarchs to pray.
So at the cave of Machpelah there in
Hebron, you'll find the Jews coming by the
hundreds to pray there at the burial cave
where Abraham and Jacob were buried.
You'll find in Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, there
is a place called the tomb of David.
And any time of the day you can
go in there and find the older men,
as a rule, praying there by the tomb
of David.
The same is true of the tomb of
Rachel near Bethlehem.
And they go to the graves of righteous
people to pray because they have a feeling
that the Spirit of God still remains around
the graves of righteous people.
And that's a good place to get close
to God.
They prided themselves in their fathers.
And they were always talking about our fathers,
and always with great pride.
Stephen, in his address, is going to be
showing them where the history of their fathers
isn't as illustrious and glorious as they would
like to believe.
Their fathers, for envy, sold Joseph into Egypt.
They rejected Joseph, sold him as a slave
to Egypt, but God was with him.
And He delivered him out of all of
his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom
in the sight of Pharaoh, the king of
Egypt, who made him the governor over Egypt
and all of his house.
Now there came a dearth over the land
of Egypt and Canaan and great affliction, and
our fathers found no sustenance.
You notice, our fathers.
But Joseph has been cast out by them,
but our fathers found no sustenance.
But when Jacob heard that there was corn
in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
He's really building the case on our fathers
and showing them that Judah and Levi and
all of these rotten brothers are actually their
fathers.
And at the second time, Joseph was made
known to his brothers and Joseph's family was
made known to Pharaoh.
Then sent Joseph and called his father Jacob
to him and his family, 75 altogether.
So Jacob went down into Egypt and he
died there and our fathers and were carried
over into Shechem and laid in the sepulcher
that Abraham bought for a sum of money
from the sons of Amor, the father of
Shechem.
But when the time of the promise drew
nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the
people grew and multiplied in Egypt till another
king arose, which knew not Joseph.
Now, he passes over from Joseph, who
was rejected by their fathers, his brothers, sold
as a slave.
That's the first example he's going to give
of a mistake that their fathers made of
a God ordained leader.
The second example he's going to bring to
them is that of Moses.
And so he jumps right in to Moses.
This Pharaoh dealt subtly with our family and
evil entreated our fathers so that they cast
out their young children to the end that
they might not live.
That is, the Pharaoh, you remember, ordered that
all of the boy babies be slain and
the girl babies be kept alive.
And so he is making reference to that
order of the Pharaoh, in which time Moses
was born and was exceeding beautiful.
And he nourished up in his father's house
for three months.
And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter
took him up and nourished him for her
own son.
Actually, they were ordered to cast their children
into the Nile River.
Moses' mother hid him for three months.
And then when she cast him into the
Nile River, she had made a little arc
out of the bulrushes.
And so she kept the order of the
Pharaoh.
She put him in the river, but in
this little floating basket.
And the Pharaoh's daughter took him up and
nourished him for her own son.
And Moses was learned in all the wisdom
of the Egyptian and was mighty in words
and deeds.
And when he was a full 40 years
old, it came into his heart to visit
his brothers, the children of Israel.
And when he saw one of them suffering
wrong, he defended him and avenged him that
was oppressed.
And he killed the Egyptian for he supposed
interesting.
He supposed that his brothers would have understood
how that God by his hand would deliver
them, but they did not understand.
Now, when Moses came down to his brothers,
he just felt, well, surely they will know
that God put me in this position in
order that I might deliver them.
But they did not understand this.
And so the next day when he showed
himself again to them, as they were fighting
among themselves, he said, Hey, you fellows are
brothers.
Why are you wronging each other?
But he that was doing wrong to his
neighbor, thrust him away saying, who made you
a ruler and a judge over us?
Will you kill me as you did the
Egyptian yesterday?
And then Moses fled at this saying and
was a stranger in the land of Median
in the land of Median where he begot
two sons.
And when 40 years were expired, there appeared
to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai,
an angel of the Lord in a flame
of fire in the bush.
And when Moses saw it, he wondered at
the site and he drew near to behold
it.
And the voice of the Lord came unto
him saying, I am the God of thy
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob.
Then Moses trembled and dared not to behold.
Then said the Lord to him, put off
your shoes from your feet for the place
where you stand is holy ground.
I have seen, I have seen the affliction
of my people, which is in Egypt.
And I have heard their groaning and I
am come down to deliver them.
That to me is very comforting.
As God says to Moses, I have seen,
I have heard and I've come to help.
What is true of God's people at that
time is true of God's people always.
God sees, God hears and God has come
to help.
God sees your affliction.
God sees your trial.
God hears your cry.
God hears your call and he responds.
God has come to help.
And now I will send you to Egypt.
This Moses whom they refused saying, who made
thee a ruler and a judge, the same
did God send to be a ruler and
a deliverer by the hand of the angel,
which appeared to him in the bush.
Now in their fathers, they have two classic
examples of their fathers putting out God's anointed.
Joseph's brothers sold him as a slave.
They would not, they rebelled against Joseph's dream.
You remember he had a dream where the
sun, moon and 12 stars bowed down to
him or the 11 stars.
He had a dream where his brothers and
he were tying up their sheaves and his
brother's sheaves all bowed down to his.
In these dreams, it was declaring that God
had ordained Joseph as a ruler over his
brothers, but they rebelled against that and they
tried to get rid of him, selling him
as a slave to Egypt.
And yet God did exalt him and make
him a ruler there in Egypt.
And they came under his rulership later.
Now the same is true with Moses.
They cast him out.
Moses thought that they would know that God
ordained that he would be a leader and
a ruler among them, but they did not
know.
And they cast Moses out.
But 40 years later, God brought him back
as a ruler and a deliverer for the
people.
And so he uses these two examples of
the mistakes that their fathers made of recognizing
God's ordained plan and God's ordained ruler.
There's a pattern that exists in this nation.
He brought them out after that he had
showed wonders and signs in the land of
Egypt and the Red Sea and in the
wilderness for 40 years.
So Moses life divided up into three 40
year periods, 40 years in the schools of
Egypt becoming something 40 years in the wilderness,
finding out he was nothing 40 years leading
the children of Israel through the wilderness, finding
out that God could take nothing and make
something out of it.
And so the 40 year divisions of Moses
life.
This is that Moses which said unto the
children of Israel, a prophet shall the Lord
your God raise up unto you from among
your brethren like unto me and him shall
ye hear.
This is he that was in the church
in the wilderness with the angel which spake
unto him in Mount Sinai.
The church in the wilderness, the word church
in Greek literally means the called out ones.
Israel was never called the church in the
land, but they had been called out of
Egypt and thus in the wilderness were known
as the called out ones.
The church today are those that God has
called out of the world to be a
special people, a peculiar nation unto him.
There on Mount Sinai with our fathers he
received the living oracles which he gave unto
us.
That is the oracle is a spokesman of
God's word.
And there God gave to Moses the law,
his word to whom our fathers.
You talk about your fathers.
God gave them these living oracles, but they
would not obey them, but they thrust him
out from among them and their hearts turned
back again to Egypt.
You talk about your fathers.
Oh, our fathers, this and our fathers, that
your fathers rejected the law of God.
They again cast Moses out and in their
hearts they returned back to Egypt saying to
Aaron, make us God's to go before us.
For as for this Moses, which brought us
out of the land of Egypt, we don't
know what's become of him.
He had been 40 days up in the
mountain.
The people became impatient and they came to
Aaron and they said, we're going to go
back to Egypt, get, make us God's that
will lead us back to Egypt.
We don't know what's happened to Moses.
And so they made a calf in those
days and offered sacrifice unto the idol and
rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Then God turned and gave them up to
worship the host of heaven.
As it is written in the book of
the prophets, Oh, ye house of Israel, you
have offered to me slain beast and sacrifices
by the space of 40 years in the
wilderness.
Yay.
You took up the tabernacle of Molech, the
star of your God, ref them figures, which
you made to worship them.
And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Now our fathers had the tabernacle of witness
in the wilderness as he had appointed speaking
unto Moses that he should make it according
to the fashion that he had seen, which
also our fathers that came after brought in
with Jesus.
Now, Jesus, there is a reference to Joshua
in the old Testament.
I've told you over and over again that
the name Jesus is the Greek for the
Hebrew name Joshua.
And because he is talking to them, uh,
and it is translated here into the Greek,
the name is given in Greek, but this
is a reference to the historic man, Joshua,
who took over Moses place and led the
children of Israel into the land, which also
our fathers that came after brought in with
Joshua.
That is the tabernacle of witness that was
made in the wilderness.
They brought it into the land whom God
drove out before the face of our fathers
under the days of David who found favor
before God and desired to find a tabernacle
for the God of Jacob.
But Solomon built him a house.
How be it now?
He was accused.
Remember of speaking against the temple and all
Solomon built him a temple.
However, he said the most high dwells not
in temples made with hands as sayeth the
prophet.
And of course you can go back to
the old Testament.
You can find that they say that the
Lord doesn't dwell in temples made with hands.
The heaven of heavens cannot contain him.
And so, uh, Solomon was saying, I have
no illusions that this is going to be
your exclusive dwelling place.
The heavens of heavens can't hold you.
How much less this house that I've been
built, but Lord, we want this house as
a place where we can just come and
meet you.
For the Lord said, heaven is my throne
and the earth is my footstool.
What house will you build me?
Sayeth the Lord, or what is the place
of my abode?
Hath not my hand made all these things?
I think of that whenever I think of
giving to God, because anytime I ever give
to God anything, I'm only giving back to
him that which is his anyhow.
Didn't he make everything?
He lets me be a steward of, of
his goods.
And in my giving to God, I'm only
really giving that which is his anyhow.
And then he now gets to the application
of the, of the points that he has
been suddenly making.
And he presses now the application very directly.
You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears.
You do always resist the Holy Spirit as
your fathers did.
So are you guilty?
You're doing the same thing.
Which of the prophets have your fathers not
persecuted?
And if you go back in their history,
you'll find that their fathers persecuted every true
prophet of God.
Isaiah was persecuted.
Sod in two ultimately.
Jeremiah thrown in the dungeon for speaking in
the name of the Lord.
Elijah, Elisha, real problems with the Kings because
they spoke out against their evil.
Your fathers tell me now, which of the
prophets did they not persecute?
And they have slain those which showed them
before the coming of the just one.
In other words, these prophets who were telling
them of the coming of the Messiah, these
true prophets of God, they had killed these
prophets who had prophesied of the coming of
the just one, the Messiah of whom ye
have now been the betrayers and murderers.
I mean, you're worse than your fathers.
They killed all of the prophets that came
to them who were telling them of the
coming of the Messiah, but you killed the
Messiah.
What a charge because you were the betrayers
and the murderers.
You have rejected the law by the disposition
of angels.
You've not kept it.
He was accused of speaking against the law
of Moses.
He said, look, you haven't kept it.
You've rejected it.
Now, when they heard these things, they were
cut to the heart and they gnashed on
him with their teeth.
But he being full of the Holy Spirit
looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the
glory of God and Jesus standing on the
right hand of God.
And he said, behold, I see the heavens
open and the son of man is standing
on the right hand of God.
Your fathers rejected Joseph.
God made him a ruler.
Your fathers rejected Moses.
God made him the ruler.
You have rejected Jesus Christ.
God has made him the ruler.
I see heavens open and I see the
son of man standing there on the right
hand of God.
Jesus in the book of Revelation promises to
those overcomers in the church of Thyatira that
they will be granted to sit on their
thrones in his kingdom.
Even he said, as I have sat down
at the throne of my father.
But here he sees him not sitting on
the throne next to the father, but he
sees him standing.
And I believe that it is significant.
I believe that Jesus has stood to receive
into heaven the first martyr in the early
church.
The first one of millions who would give
their lives for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
And I believe that as Stephen was ready
to be martyred, the Lord stood to receive
him into that heavenly kingdom.
Son of man is standing there at the
right hand of God.
And they cried out with a loud voice.
They stopped their ears.
They did not want to hear the truth.
And they ran upon him with one accord
and they threw him out of the city
and stoned him.
And the witnesses laid down their clothes at
a young man's feet whose name was Saul.
And they stoned Stephen.
And as they were stoning him, he called
upon God saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
And he kneeled down and cried with a
loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to
their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell
asleep.
We find in the martyrdom of Stephen, much
of what we saw in the crucifixion of
Jesus in that number one, he was praying
for those who were committing the crime.
You remember, Jesus said, Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do.
Stephen is saying, Father, don't lay this sin
to their charge, praying for the persecutors.
As Jesus said, pray for those who despitefully
use you.
And thus Stephen, following the example of Jesus.
Secondly, we find that Stephen here is commending
his spirit unto God, even as Jesus went
on the cross, commended his spirit unto God.
And so following the example of the Lord
in his crucifixion, Stephen is now martyred.
And the first blood of the church has
been shed.
And as the result, they did not silence
the witness of the church.
They only spread the witness all over the
place.
For then began a great persecution against the
church.
And we are introduced now to one of
the chief persecutors, a zealous young Jew, a
Pharisee of the Pharisees whose name is Saul.
And he was standing by consenting to the
death of Stephen, holding the coats of the
fellows who were throwing the stones, no doubt
cheering them on.
But I have no doubt that what Stephen's
death and his reaction to it had such
a tremendous impression on Paul that he never
got away from it.
And I believe that it was ultimately the
background of Paul's conversion.
Or you remember when Jesus finally apprehended Paul
on the road to Damascus to imprison the
Christians there, the Lord said, Paul, it's been
hard for you to kick against the goads.
And that death of Stephen was something that
was a goad in Paul, hearing this young
man, seeing his face like an angel.
And no doubt that witness that Stephen gave,
hey, our fathers have been wrong.
Joseph was rejected by our fathers, and yet
God had chosen him to be the ruler.
Moses was rejected by our fathers, yet God
had chosen him to be the ruler.
Could it be that we are also guilty
of rejecting God's ruler?
And of course, Peter had said, the stone
which was said of not of you builders,
the same has become the head cornerstone.
When I was speaking at a congress in
Jerusalem, in which the purpose was to express
the Christians, the evangelical Christians, support for the
nation of Israel.
At that congress, before I had a chance
to speak, I received a letter from one
of the rabbis from the Miasharim, they're the
ultra orthodox radicals.
And the letter was a severe rebuke to
me for being involved in a congress that
was seeking to promote the peace of Jerusalem.
And that's what the congress was called, the
Peace of Jerusalem Congress.
This rabbi said, Israel has no right to
exist as a nation.
We have no right to exist as a
nation until we have our temple again.
This nation is not a true nation.
And he went on really coming down on
me for supporting the nation of Israel.
I have been witnessing to many Jewish people
over there that have become friends of the
family.
And so I took this radical, hate-filled
letter and I showed it to my friends.
I said, look what one of your rabbis
have sent me.
And as he read the letter, he got
all upset.
He said, don't pay any attention to it.
They're crazy.
They're a bunch of radicals.
They're crazy.
Don't pay any attention to it.
I said, but they are rabbis.
Oh yeah, but they're crazy.
I said, but they are the religious rulers.
They are the rabbis.
Oh, it doesn't matter.
They're crazy.
They're nuts.
They don't know what they're talking about.
I said, that is very interesting.
Have you ever stopped to think that it
was perhaps men just like these who rejected
Jesus Christ, radicals, crazy, and you are still
following their crazy, radical conclusions?
He didn't have anything to say.
Saul, verse chapter eight, was consenting unto the
death of Stephen.
And at that time there was a great
persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem.
And they were all scattered abroad throughout the
regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles
and devout men carried Stephen to his burial
and made great lamentation over him.
It is quite possible that these devout men
are not Christians or members of the church.
And the reason why I say that is
because they made great lamentation over him.
A true understanding of what happens to a
child of God at death doesn't really provoke
great lamentation, but it provokes rejoicing for them
who are there now with the Lord in
the kingdom.
It could be that some of the Jews,
devout men, you see, it doesn't identify them
as Christians at all, just devout men.
And the Jew was usually described by his
devotedness, had taken Stephen's body, and perhaps they
lamented that such a fine young man should
be so mistreated by the radical crowd.
And as for Saul, he made havoc of
the church, entering into every house and hailing
men and women, committing them to prison.
So Paul was empowered by the Sanhedrin to
imprison those who called upon the Lord, and
he was going to the house fellowships and
just wrecking havoc among the early church.
Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere
preaching the word.
And so far from stamping out the witness
of the church, all the persecution did was
spread the witness all over the place.
For everywhere they went, they were preaching the
word of God, and thus the gospel began
to spread throughout Judea and Samaria.
Now Jesus had said to his disciples in
the first chapter, verse eight, and you shall
receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon
you, and you shall be witnesses unto me,
both in Jerusalem, and remember they said to
them, you have filled this city with this
man's doctrine, and in Judea and in Samaria.
And so we find now the next movement
of the church as it goes beyond Jerusalem
into Judea and Samaria as the result of
this persecution, Paul being one of the chief
persecutors of the church.
So Philip, now we are introduced to a
second of the seven who was appointed to
the task of waiting tables in the early
church and overseeing the church's welfare program.
God is taking another one now, filled with
the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom and of
good report, and is using him now in
the ministry of an evangelist.
And later on, we find years later that
Philip is living in Caesarea, and he is
called there Philip the Evangelist.
And we are told that by this time
he now has four daughters who possess the
gift of prophecy.
And as Paul is returning to Jerusalem, he
stops and spends a few days with Philip
in Caesarea.
And I imagine that Paul and Philip, as
they were there, probably recounted some of the
early experiences of Stephen and of Paul's being
there, because Philip was there and around the
situation too, and how their paths had crossed
earlier in life, only when they were going
different directions, and how God has brought them
together in the communion of the gospel here
now later on in Caesarea.
So Philip went down to the city of
Samaria and preached Christ unto them.
And remember the word Christ is the Greek
word for the Messiah, so he preached the
Messiah unto them.
Now the Samaritans were looking for the Messiah.
You remember when Jesus met the woman at
the well there near Shechem.
She said to him, we know that when
the Messiah has come, he is going to
teach us all things.
They were looking for the Messiah.
They knew the scriptures that related to the
Messiah, and they were looking for the Messiah.
And you remember that the woman went into
the town and started telling people, come and
hear a man who has told me everything
that I've ever done, is this not the
Messiah?
And they came out and they heard Jesus,
and then they said, now we believe, not
because of what you have told us, but
because we have heard and seen for ourselves.
And so the seed was already planted in
Samaria, and so Philip went to proclaim the
Messiah unto them.
And the people with one accord gave heed
unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and
seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with loud voices, came
out of many that were possessed with them,
and many taken with palsies, and those that
were lame were healed.
And there was great joy in that city,
the city of Samaria.
The gospel is now being preached, and the
result of the gospel in the hearts of
the people is that of great joy, always
the result of the preaching of the good
news.
Now there was a certain man called Simon,
which before time in the same city used
sorcery, and he bewitched the people of Samaria,
giving out that himself was some great one.
There was this fellow who was probably a
warlock.
He used sorcery.
He had the people convinced that he had
great mystical, magical powers.
And all of the people had given heed
to him, from the least of them to
the greatest, saying that this man had a
great power of God.
And to him they had regard, because for
a long time he had been bewitching them
with these sorceries.
But when they believed Philip, and the preaching
of the things concerning the kingdom of God,
and the name of Jesus Christ, they were
baptized, both men and women.
They were freed from the bewitching of this
Simon, and they were brought to the gospel
and baptized.
Then Simon himself believed also.
And when he was baptized, he continued with
Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and the
signs which were done.
Now, when the apostles which were at Jerusalem
heard that Samaria had received the word of
God, they sent unto them Peter and John.
Peter and John, interesting companions in the gospel
records.
Men of different temperaments, yet brought together and
very closely associated with each other.
But it is interesting that this is the
last mention of John in the book of
Acts.
Now, Peter comes in for further mention.
Attention will, of course, later on turn to
Paul and to Barnabas and to others.
But this, interestingly enough, in the book of
Acts is the last mention of John.
Now, John did outlive the rest of the
disciples and, of course, in the later years,
wrote his gospel, his three epistles and the
book of Revelation.
But later on, as we are dealing with
the church in Jerusalem and the issues that
come up before the church council, John, strangely.
Is not mentioned.
As in a in any type of a
rule, he's just it's the witnesses silent concerning
John, and I really don't have any real
suggestion for that, except that it's just not
there and I don't know why.
But as John said in his gospel, I
suppose if everything were written that should be
written, all of the books in the world
could not contain the things that should have
been written about these things.
So when the church or the apostles in
Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word
of God, they sent unto them Peter and
John.
Now, that would take away the idea of
Peter being the pope because he was sent.
By the apostles.
He was sent by them.
It didn't say that, you know, as you
know, he had the pontifical authority and was
giving the orders, but he was sent by
the apostles who, when they were come down,
they prayed for them that they might receive
the Holy Spirit.
For as yet he was fallen upon none
of them.
Only they were baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus.
Now, it is interesting how that this has
been a problem to so many Bible commentators.
The fact that they had not yet received
the Holy Spirit, that he had not fallen
upon them as yet.
And so they, you see, it is commonly
acknowledged that a person is baptized by the
spirit into the body of Christ and no
man can call Jesus Lord, except by the
Holy Spirit.
And the moment a person receives Jesus Christ
and is baptized, the Holy Spirit comes into
their lives.
We know that you cannot receive Jesus without
receiving the Holy Spirit into your life.
And so this poses a great problem to
the majority of Bible commentators when we find
that the people in Samaria had believed and
were baptized in water and yet the apostles
sent them down that they might receive the
Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen
upon any of them.
I am surprised with all of these scholars
who are so problemed over this particular text
that they have not noted the Greek preposition.
You remember Jesus said concerning the Holy Spirit
to his disciples, for he is with you
and shall be in you.
But then later Jesus said, you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you.
Now this is the same Greek preposition hippy
that is used here.
The Holy Spirit had not yet fallen hippy
upon them.
So the commentators have difficulty trying to say,
well, you know, they weren't yet filled with
the Spirit.
This was some special case in Samaria because,
you know, this was the first time outside
of Jerusalem and all.
And they really wrestle and do all kinds
of foolish things with this text because they
do not want to acknowledge that there is
an empowering experience of the Holy Spirit apart
from conversion.
But yet that's exactly what the text does
prove.
That yes, we do receive the Holy Spirit
in us when Christ comes into our lives,
but there is an empowering experience subsequent to
our salvation where our lives were are endued
with the power of God's Spirit as he
comes upon us, anointing us for power to
serve God.
And it's a very simple, obvious solution, but
it is one that most of the Bible
commentators really stumble heavily over this.
And I am amused at the various explanations
they try to give of this particular text
when the answer is so simple.
They had received Jesus Christ, they were baptized,
so obviously the Spirit was dwelling in them,
but they had not had an empowering experience
like the apostles experienced on the day of
Pentecost.
For he was not yet fallen upon any
of them, only they were baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus.
Then laid they their hands on them and
they received the Holy Spirit.
And when Simon saw that through the laying
on of the apostles hands, the Holy Spirit
was given, he offered them money saying, give
me also this power that on whomsoever I
lay my hands, he may receive the Holy
Spirit.
Now, when Simon saw that through the laying
on of the hands, the Holy Spirit was
imparted, there must have been some kind of
visible or audible evidence that they were being
empowered with the Holy Spirit, else why would
he ask for that power?
If there was just, they would just lay
hands on them and say receive the Holy
Spirit, receive the Holy Spirit, receive the Holy
Spirit, and there was nothing visible or audible
to signify that the gift was being imparted,
there wouldn't be this great desire by Simon
to possess the same kind of power.
No doubt there was some type of evidence
that these people were receiving an empowering of
God's Spirit upon their lives.
And I really do not doubt but what
they were speaking in other tongues and perhaps
prophesying as was the case in Ephesus in
the 19th chapter.
Though it is not here declared, I personally
feel that this probably was the case and
that is why Simon desired to purchase this
power.
Now his desire to purchase the power or
a position in the church is where the
name for that evil which later permeated the
church was originated, simony, that is the purchase
of a position within the church.
And unfortunately the church went through a very
dark period of history where positions in the
church were auctioned off to the highest bidder.
And there were times where the pope, the
position of the pope was actually auctioned and
purchased by the highest bidder.
That awful evil known as simony that did
come into the church, that purchasing position or
authority.
This is a common practice among magicians.
If a magician has a good trick, other
magicians will seek to buy that trick.
How it is done.
And there is among those who are practicing
that art of legerdemain, the common practice of
selling the tricks to one another.
And so Simon being a sorcerer, being a
deceiver, bewitching the people, having in his past
purchased various types of information, thought that he
could purchase now this gift of God.
But Peter said unto him, your money perish
with thee, because you have thought that the
gift of God may be purchased with money.
What a horrible thing.
You have neither part nor lot in this
matter, for your heart is not right in
the sight of God.
And so Peter exercising now this gift of
discernment begins to really deal with the issue
of Simon's heart.
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray
God if perhaps the thought of your heart
may be forgiven thee.
For I perceive that thou art in the
gall of bitterness and in the bond of
iniquity.
Now, though he had followed Philip and was
a great admirer of the works that Philip
was doing.
Yet within his heart, there was the gall
of bitterness, probably bitter over the fact that
he was no longer looked up to the
people as he had once been.
Bitter over the fact that the people were
now following a new leader, even Jesus Christ,
whom Philip had declared unto them.
And that his little crowd had turned from
him unto another, and that bothered him deep
down within his heart.
Though on outwardly he was there with Philip
and followed Philip and was baptized inwardly, it
was eating away the bond of iniquity, the
gall of bitterness.
What a terrible thing bitterness is.
How sad it is that a person would
harbor bitterness in their heart.
Bitterness can only hurt you.
It only does you harm.
You really can't afford bitterness.
And he was told, pray that God might
forgive you of this, for down in your
heart you have bitterness, the bond of iniquity.
Then answered Simon, and he said, pray to
the Lord for me that none of these
things which you have spoken will come upon
me.
And he asked for prayer, and I believe
it was sincere.
And they, when they had testified and preached
the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem,
and they preached the gospel in many villages
of the Samaritans.
So John and Peter became evangelists.
And as they were returning back to Jerusalem,
they stopped in the villages of the Samaritans
and preached the gospel unto many.
And the angel of the Lord spoke unto
Philip, saying, arise and go toward the south
unto the way that goes down from Jerusalem
unto Gaza, which is desert.
And so he arose, and he went.
And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch
of great authority under Candace, the queen of
the Ethiopians, who had charge of all of
her treasure, and who had come to Jerusalem
for to worship, was returning and sitting in
his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet.
Now, this is interesting in several respects.
First of all, it is interesting because it
gives us an insight into how God leads
us by His Spirit.
So many times I have people say, I
wish I knew what the will of God
was for my life.
And usually by that they are saying, I
wish God would sort of show me on
a screen my future.
I'd like to know what my future holds.
I would like to know what God has
planned for me.
Then I can determine whether or not I
want to do it.
But in wanting to know the will of
God, usually we want to know on down
next year, five years from now, we want
our five year program, our ten year program,
our twenty year program.
Now God, you know, lay it out.
But God only said to Philip, go down
to the road that is going from Jerusalem
to Gaza toward the desert.
He didn't tell him anymore.
That's the first step in the will of
God.
Now, God did not speak to him again
until he had taken the first step.
So many times when God has given us
the first step, we don't want to go
until he gives us the second step and
the third step and the fourth step.
And we are prone to say, Lord, why
in the world do you want me to
go to Gaza?
There's nobody down there.
That's a desert area, Lord.
Why would you want me to leave this
great meeting here in Samaria?
Lord, you're making a serious mistake here.
There are hundreds of people that are being
saved.
You know, they're coming and they're listening to
the gospel.
And this is exciting, Lord.
Why should I go to Gaza?
And I want the Lord to tell me
why he has given me the first step.
I want to know the whole plan, the
whole program that God is doing.
But God so often only gives us step
one and step two does not come until
step one has been taken.
And I am certain that had he stayed
in Samaria arguing with God, seeking to have
further clarification of this call that he never
would have received it.
God would have sent someone else to meet
that Ethiopian unit one step at a time.
That's how God usually directs our lives.
That's how God has directed my life.
Just one step of it at a time.
It used to bother me.
It used to bother me severely that God
would only lead me one step at a
time.
Now I find it rather exciting and I
always like it when it's God's move.
You know, when I make my move and
then I say, OK, Lord, it's your move.
I am obedient to what the Lord told
me to do, and now I wait to
see what the next instruction is from him.
I don't like it so much when it's
my move.
I have difficulty many times with my move,
but it's always great when I've made my
move and I turn and say, OK, now,
Lord, your move again.
Philip obeyed the first move.
He left, no doubt had many questions in
his mind, but he left Samaria, the great
revival, and he went down to this area
from going from Jerusalem to Gaza to the
desert place.
Notice that this man had been to Jerusalem
to worship God.
And was returning.
Sitting in his chariot, reading Isaiah the prophet,
I believe that this man was a sincere.
Seeker for God.
In his heart, he was really seeking after
the Lord, for no doubt the spirit had
been drawing him and in his search for
God, he came to Jerusalem, the center of
the worship.
Coming from Ethiopia, they were familiar with Judaism
because when the Queen of Sheba returned from
her visit to Solomon, she took back to
Ethiopia the Hebrew religion.
And there began then in Ethiopia, the Phalangist
movement, those Ethiopians who were Jewish in their
faith and practices.
Now, according to their tradition, this.
The Queen of Sheba also took back to
Egypt in her womb, a son of Solomon,
who they aptly called the lion of the
tribe.
Of Judah and Halle Selassie, the recently few
years back, deposed leader of Ethiopia did claim
to be a direct descendant of Solomon and
the king of Judah and the head over
this faction in Ethiopia who followed Judaism.
Thus, because Judaism was well known in Ethiopia
and Jerusalem was the center of.
Judaism in the search of this man for
God, it would only be natural that his
search would bring him to Jerusalem.
The tragedy is that while in Jerusalem he
did not find what he was searching for.
And now he is returning to Ethiopia just
as empty as he came, a heart still
yearning after God.
But God saw the yearning heart.
I believe that God sees every yearning heart
and that God will take measures to bring
his love and truth to every true.
Seeker after God, if a person is genuinely
seeking after God in his heart, I believe
that God will reveal the truth even by
miracles or whatever.
And I think such is the case.
God saw this man.
And so he stirred the heart of Philip
in the midst of the revival and said,
go down to the road that goes from
Jerusalem to Gaza, that desert place.
When he got there, he saw the chariot
and the man sitting in the chariot and
the Lord said unto him, go near and
join yourself to this chariot step two.
But step two did not come until he
was fully obedient to step one.
And Philip ran up to him and he
heard him reading the prophet Isaiah.
And he said, do you understand what you
read?
And he said, how can I unless some
man should guide me?
And he requested that Philip would come up
and sit with him there in the chariot.
And the place of the scripture which he
read was this.
He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter and like a lamb done before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth.
In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away.
And who shall declare his generation for his
life is taken from the earth.
Isaiah 53, that prophecy of Isaiah, of the
servant of God who would be despised and
rejected, the servant of God whose life would
be taken away, who would be slain as
a sheep without really responding to the charges.
And the eunuch said, I pray thee, of
whom is the prophet speaking this?
Of himself or of some other man?
Then Philip opened his mouth and he began
at that verse, the same scripture, and he
preached unto him Jesus.
And as we pointed out this morning, it
wouldn't have made any difference where the man
was reading in the Old Testament.
It would have been possible to begin at
that very scripture and preach Jesus.
For the Old Testament is the story of
Jesus from beginning to end.
Jesus said, you do search the scriptures, for
in them you think you have life, but
actually they are testifying of me.
I have come in the volume of the
book it is written of me, O Lord.
And then again, we read how that there's
one other scripture that refers to the Old
Testament being filled, and I slipped my mind.
We'll get to it in a minute.
But he opened at that scripture and began
to preach unto him Jesus.
Oh, Jesus expounded to the disciples on the
road to Emmaus, all of Moses and the
prophets, the things concerning himself, how he must
suffer and die and rise.
And as they went on their way, they
came unto a certain water and the eunuch
said, see, here is water.
What does hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, if you believe with all
your heart, you may.
And he answered and said, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the son of God.
And so he commanded the chariot to stand
still.
And they went down, both of them into
the water.
I guess he didn't sprinkle in both Philip
and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
And when they were come up out of
the water, the spirit of the Lord caught
Philip away that the eunuch saw him no
more.
But he went his way rejoicing.
Philip had a ministry that brought joy to
people.
Remember in Samaria, the result of the ministry,
the city was filled with joy.
Now he's ministered to this man who continues
his journey, no longer searching, he is found.
And as a result of his finding a
real relationship with God, he is rejoicing.
And from that time in history, there has
always been a church in Ethiopia, and he
no doubt had great influence on the establishing
of the gospel and the church in Ethiopia.
He went his way rejoicing.
Now, here's an interesting thing.
Philip, the spirit of the Lord caught away
Philip.
Now, by what means or whatever, I don't
know.
There have been times when I wish the
spirit of the Lord would catch me away
when I'm facing a long hike back and
you're weary and tired.
But Philip was found at Azotus.
It would appear from the language that it
was sort of a miraculous catching away.
That's what the language would indicate.
But of course, nothing is really mentioned of
methods or whatever else.
So to speculate is worthless.
Why make guesses?
Who knows?
We don't.
But Philip was found at Azotus and passing
through, he preached in all the cities till
he came to Caesarea.
Now, in a chapter or two, we're going
to find Peter going down to Lydda and
preaching to the church in Lydda and healing
a certain man by the name of Aeneas,
who had been in bed for several years.
And then we'll find that the church in
Joppa, when they hear that Peter is in
Lydda, send to him requesting that he will
come quickly to Joppa because a certain woman,
Dorcas, had died.
And so Peter went then to Joppa and
ministered to Dorcas.
Now, how is it that there was a
church in Lydda and in Joppa?
If you will look at the map and
look at Gaza and then look at Azotus
and we are told that he went from
Azotus in all of the cities preaching till
he came to Caesarea.
I believe that these churches in Joppa and
Lydda were probably established by the evangelist Philip
because these are some of the cities that
he would be passing through going from Gaza
to Caesarea, going from Azotus to Caesarea.
These are some of the cities he would
be passing through.
And I think that his ministry there resulted
in the birth of churches in these areas
that Peter later came down and ministered to.
It seems that when he came to Caesarea,
that he made Caesarea his home.
And I can surely understand why.
It is such a beautiful seaport city there
on the Mediterranean.
The water of the Mediterranean there takes on
a special blue.
The beaches are gorgeous.
And if I had a choice of places
to live, Caesarea wouldn't be a bad choice
at all.
And so Philip stayed there in Caesarea, established
his home there.
And years later, Paul visited with Philip there
in Caesarea, remaining with him there in his
home before he continued his journey to Jerusalem.
And so we'll come back to Philip's house
in Caesarea later on in the book of
Acts.
We'll return to his house and we'll visit
for a while with Paul when we get
to that point.
So that's why I emphasize his house in
Caesarea, because we're coming back to this house
before we're through with the book of Acts.
As we go on into chapter nine next
week, we will get to the conversion of
Paul, the interesting aspects of his conversion, and
then Peter's visit to Lydda and to Joppa.
And then the pouring out of the Holy
Spirit in chapter 10 on the Gentiles in
the house of Cornelius in Caesarea where Philip
ends up.
Now, it is interesting that God would call
Peter for this work.
It could be that Philip was not yet
in Caesarea at this time, or it could
be that again he had planted seed and
that's why Cornelius was such a devout man.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your word and
the excitement that is generated in our hearts
when we see men so used of the
Holy Spirit and we realize that they are
just common men like us.
And so, Lord, we desire that our lives
be used by the Holy Spirit to share
the love of Jesus Christ with the world
around us.
Lord, we offer you tonight our lives, our
bodies as living sacrifices that we might, oh
God, be instruments in your hand doing your
work touching the needy world around us.
Oh, Lord, we recognize that we need the
power of your Holy Spirit to do any
work that is truly effective.
And so, Lord, anoint us with your power.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
May the Lord bless, give you a beautiful
week, fill you with his love and with
his spirit and may he use your life
as his instrument accomplishing his work in Jesus
name.